A Suffolk businessman and a recovering alcoholic and drug addict have joined forces to launch an initiative aimed at those who suffer from addiction.

Their business is also aimed at helping to rid the streets of the level of drugs available to addicts.

Simon Pott, who is based in the west Suffolk village of Thurston, has linked up with his son-in-law Jamie Blyth, who up until its closure worked for Focus 12, the centre for addiction treatment in Bury St Edmunds.

Mr Pott is a past president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and former agent to the 7th Marquess of Bristol who died of a drug overdose at the age of 44.

Mr Blyth, who also lives in Thurston and who suffered from addiction for many years, was sent for remedial treatment to a specialist clinic in South Africa, leaving at home his wife and baby daughter and underwent three months of therapy. However he returned home two years ago a changed man.

He now speaks to a range of organisations from schools to prisons about his experience and the means by which he was able to harness the addictive nature which had bedevilled his life.

He entered the world of business, where he ended up in Hong Kong and drifted into the world of alcohol and drug abuse.

He was on a steep decline until he got married but returned to his addiction days when his mother died.

Now with the launch of the website WhyAddicted.com he has set up a new system with Gideon de Wit, a counsellor in South Africa, which requires those who seek help to undertake a simple 20minute assessment.

This takes a snap shot of the brain’s subconscious, which can be analysed and used to define the type of treatment required.

WhyAddicted.com aims to make a major impact on current treatment processes in the UK and to include a percentage of clients who are unable to afford the costs involved in travelling and treatment without charge.

Mr Pott said: “This is a real gamechanger and we are aiming to roll it out across the Bury St Edmunds area before we go further afield.

“Jamie has had the experience of therapy and he is completely convinced that this therapy works and I was absoluteley astonished with what people could tell from this simple 20minute assessment.”